Another home loss, the Panthers may have the worst record in the NFC... but they really aren't that good. On with the grades.

Offense:

I am fairly certain I could paste last week's offensive grades here. But just to review...the option, it doesn't work.

Deangelo Williams had two carries, and in the press conference Rivera said it was because of "personnel". I can only assume this meant the makeshift offensive line would not provide the blocking that Deangelo would need. If I know one thing about Jerry RIchardon its that he values the dollar. Well Jerry, thats a whole lot of dollars sitting on the bench because your coaching staff has no idea how to use them. How do you feel about that?

Offensive Grade: D

Defense:

Again, if not for the defense this would not have been a close game. The defense, unlike the offense, resembles a professional unit. Luke Kuechly appears to be getting comfortable in a leadership role, taking command of the defensive huddle and making the needed adjustments with authority. Even Greg Hardy listens up and looks to him for direction. That is an accomplishment.

Defensive Grade: B

Coaching:

You know me, I notice the small, seemingly insignificant things. But yesterday during the Rivera post game press conference, Rivera constantly fidgeted with his hands. Usually they are flat on the podium. The losing has him concerned, as it should. His job is in serious jeopardy. His only saving grace from being fired mid-season should the Panthers continue losing is that there is no one under him that could be considered for a head coaching job in this league.

The offense in particular has not bought into the scheme of Rivera and Chudzinski, and why would they? It is a scheme built on being soft from the ground up. The emphasis is on misdirection and gimmickry instead of hard nose smash mouth football. It is no shock that this offense fizzles when facing aggressive defenses who do play physical football. The secret is out on shutting down the Carolina offense, and after a full two weeks to regroup it appears there will be no adjustments made to the scheme. No adjustments will be made to the results either, expect more losses.

While I will agree that the defense kept us in the game until the end, the lack of pass rush really hurt us yesterday, giving Romo all day to find the open guy roaming around in the underneath area. Really frustrating.

While I will agree that the defense kept us in the game until the end, the lack of pass rush really hurt us yesterday, giving Romo all day to find the open guy roaming around in the underneath area. Really frustrating.

This. Did we really pressure him at all? Once that blitz was shown to not work McDermott kept at it for some reason. Thats on the coach/coordinator.

there were some stupid mistakes made by the players on the O, but the playcalling was still bad. except for one or two drives it was just pathetic...esp. at the end of the game. cam's interception in the end zone was just dumb...but it shouldn't have cost us the game.

the defense did well...but the amount of pressure on romo? should have been a whole lot more. their oline isn't that good.

i think we should give the refs a grade as well:
F-
they were just horrible at the end of the game. bad calls killed whatever momentum and chance we had to come back...but as bad as the cowboys were playing it shouldn't have come down to that.

our offense, tho, is just down right pathetic. the players are underperforming and the coaching isn't utilizing the talent they have. there is no way that offense should have less than 20 points in any game and i don't care who it is they are playing. the players don't look like they are buying into the system anymore. i don't know if chud pulled a bait and switch but it looked like the players were expecting a whole lot more than what they have been given.

i hope cam is mad instead of bummed out and that he can get the players to make lemonade out of the lemons chud is giving them. i fully believe that players can make a bad system and bad playcalling better by just executing. i think it's time for cam to make this team his and do it in spite of the ineffective coaching that they are getting.

I pretty much agree, except I wouldn't put the offense so low. I thought only the line played poorly (ok, maybe throw Murphy in there too). Cam wasn't great, but wasn't bad. When you're getting hit so quick every snap, there's going to be forced/deflected throws. Only 1 interception isn't bad considering. He had a couple bad throws (the throw over Stewart's head in the endzone), but as many or more particularly good throws. The RBs and receivers (minus Murphy) did what they could. I'd give the line a D and the rest of them a B-.